Weaning age

[Macybaby]

I've read a lot about not weaning too early, but for the last two litters, my does have had the next batch 4-5 weeks later. So I assume that they have weaned the younger ones before the babies are born.

I currently have one litter that is 9 weeks old that would have been weaned "early" and two more litters that are five weeks old, and now both does have kindled again. With these last three litters, the babies have left the nest around 3 weeks old, and within a few days were happily eating greens and pellets along side the older buns. They are five weeks now, and when I pick them up they are solid and plump.

I am changing my setup so I can get a bit more control over my rabbits' reproductive activities, but I was wondering if I could start moving the younger rabbits out at an earlier age. I've been doing it around 8 - 9 weeks but this time I'd like to move the 5 week olds out sooner. I stepped on one yesterday (not hard though) and it's getting quite crowded. These guys are not afraid of me and don't get out of my way, I guess I handled them too much while they were still in the nest LOL!

Cathy

[General Brown]

I normally wean at 4 1/2 to 5 weeks of age. Yesterday I removed half of a litter of 10 and now will remove a kit a day until all are gone. This litter just turned 5 weeks Friday. The doe is scheduled to kindle her next litter in 2 weeks.

[Bamboorabbit]

Originally Posted by General Brown

I normally wean at 4 1/2 to 5 weeks of age. Yesterday I removed half of a litter of 10 and now will remove a kit a day until all are gone. This litter just turned 5 weeks Friday. The doe is scheduled to kindle her next litter in 2 weeks.

Same....I start to wean at 5 weeks. I take two kits a day away from the doe and she is about two weeks from kindling the next batch.

[grumpy]

the young are left with the doe till they are 56 days old. the doe is rebred at 42 days past kindling. that leaves her 14 days to rest till the next litter is born.

at 56 days, the litter is processed. if replacements are wanted, that is the time when sexing is done and the holdovers are placed in junior pens till they are old enough to go into production or sold for starter stock for rabbit breeders.

grumpy.

[Bamboorabbit]

Originally Posted by grumpy

the young are left with the doe till they are 56 days old. the doe is rebred at 42 days past kindling. that leaves her 14 days to rest till the next litter is born.

at 56 days, the litter is processed. if replacements are wanted, that is the time when sexing is done and the holdovers are placed in junior pens till they are old enough to go into production or sold for starter stock for rabbit breeders.

grumpy.

Grumpy,

What sort of weights do you get at 56 days?

[grumpy]

can't say with this new group of rabbits i've restarted with. my old group normally threw 4.25# to 4.50# at 56 days (8 weeks). much bigger than those weights, i didn't care for. nor did my customers.

grumpy

[Backfourty,MI.]

I'm fairly new to rabbits but we have taken all our litter's from the doe's at about 6-7 weeks of age but that's because the 3 doe's we got to start our little rabbittry were 6 weeks old when we got them so I figured that must be a good age.

[lorian]

Originally Posted by grumpy

can't say with this new group of rabbits i've restarted with. my old group normally threw 4.25# to 4.50# at 56 days (8 weeks). much bigger than those weights, i didn't care for. nor did my customers.

grumpy

Wow, I'm new at this and I must be doing something really wrong...........
No way are mine that big at 8 weeks!

[laughaha]

Grumpy- I'm assuming you have NZW's?

[laughaha]

Oh, I seem to wean around 5-6 weeks, just cuz they are always eating/drinking really well and are starting to drive Cindy Lu nuts by this point.

[grumpy]

laughaha,

they were four sisters from the same litter, 1/2 NZW 1/2 Cal bred back to a NZW buck. i saved the daughters from this breeding and bred them back to the sire. all were good milkers with large litters, docile, and easy to handle. nothing excited them very much.

the fella that bought me out still talks about the does from that line. he had to sell-out due to health issues several years ago and lost track of the bloodline completely.

grumpy

[jhuebner]

ARBA & 4H standards for weaning is 8 weeks. I try to get them to 10 to 12... they just do better. Momma does still feed them. I had an American Fuzzy Lop doe feed a Flemish Baby until he was 9wks. Yea he was almost as big as she was. His "siblings" were fuzzies, he was a runt Flemish

Ours are 6wks this week... Time to give them a dose (1-2cc) of yogurt to keep their little tummies from getting diarrhea.

Good luck to all, but don't wean too early!

[Bamboorabbit]

Originally Posted by lorian

Wow, I'm new at this and I must be doing something really wrong...........
No way are mine that big at 8 weeks!

Mine either, not even close.

[jhuebner]

ha hah a... show weight for a Junior Flemish Giant is 7 pounds. No that doesn't happen in 8wks, but by 16 they are close. Then they slow way down...& keep growing & growing.

Flemish Giant bucks don't really get their last pounds until they are ~1.5 yrs old. I had a senior Flemish buck get to 20, and my largest doe is 18.5 ... I've seen a 24 pound doe, she was "LARGE"

My 12 pound Giant Angora Doe is a big girl, w/o her woolly coat... LOL

have FUN!

JLH